"We didn't move on the pass. We were a step behind all day," West Virginia
coach Alexis Basil said. "We spent too much time on Riley and Ratay."

The Irish (10-2, 1-0 Big East) tried to pound the ball inside to the
6-foot-5 Riley with mixed success. Employing mostly a zone defense, West
Virginia collapsed two and three players on Riley every time she got her hands
on the ball and managed to hold her to nine points, well below her 15.5
average, and an uncharacteristic 4-of-12 shooting.

With Riley struggling, the Irish went to their guards, Ratay, Green and
Niele Ivey.

When not driving the lane - contributing to Notre Dame's 42 points in the
paint - they helped harass West Virginia into 22 turnovers, which were turned
into 27 points.

They also forced the Mountaineers (5-7, 0-2) to throw up some ugly outside
shots. West Virginia was just 26.5 percent from the field, including 2-of-17
from 3-point range, and trailed by as many as 32 points in the second half.

"They fast-breaked us and they killed us in the paint," Basil said. "When
you shoot 25 percent from the floor, you're not going to win a lot of games,
overmatched or undermatched."

Val Zona led West Virginia with 12 points and Mandy Ronay had 10.

Still, despite dominating West Virginia in almost every category, the Irish
weren't particularly sharp. They shot 8-of-26 to open the game and needed a
20-0 run over the final five minutes of the first half to blow the game open
with a 41-18 halftime lead.

"I was really disappointed with our focus tonight," said Irish head coach
Muffett McGraw, who is 7-0 against West Virginia since Notre Dame joined the
Big East. "I think we looked like we were bored. We really just didn't feel
like playing tonight."

The Irish, who committed 20 turnovers, only got 20 points from their
reserves - 10 from Green - even though only one starter played more than 25
minutes.

"We've got to have the killer instinct, and right now we don't have that,"
Green said. "I'm not putting West Virginia down or anything, but we never
should've allowed a team like this to be able to compete with us.

"It goes back to our second unit. Our first unit is getting the job done,
but the second unit is not with it right now."